is dallas jenkins catholic

Well, without wanting to wade into all that, whether you call them cousins or brothers or whatever, the fact is you have both Mark and John talk about how the brothers didn’t believe in Jesus — they thought he was crazy, they were sort of opposed to him during his ministry — and yet by the time of the book of Acts, the brothers are members of the church, they’re leaders in the church, so there’s an arc there that could be explored if one wanted to. I think taking the time to develop their back-story and their struggles makes the payoff even sweeter. So right now, when people say, “Why is Mary hanging with the disciples?” There’s only six disciples. –and the underdogs always speak with American accents, whereas in your series the underdogs sound kind of foreign but the Romans sound like Americans. I think back in King of Kings, Ben-Hur, some of those projects, Jesus was less the main character. It’s more just influenced me in terms of saying, “What do I have to say that’s fresh, that’s an interesting perspective?” Because it’s been done so often, there’s really no need to do yet another Jesus project that’s going to do the same thing that everyone else has done. But we’re just up front about that. Eden, Simon’s wife, has been one of their favorite characters, because when you think of what Simon was like — what Peter was like — and then you imagine what he must have been like as a husband, it’s so exciting and interesting. Yeah, I did really like that, and also that you gave his wife brothers, which makes the family dynamic even bigger. So my favorite is, for sure, The Passion of the Christ, because I felt artistically it was off the charts, but also, I think that there were moments in that movie that have inspired this show. Monsignor Jenkins received a B.A. It’s been almost 16 years since The Passion came out, but it’s also been about six or seven years since The Bible miniseries came out, which kind of renewed interest in biblical themes for a while. It wasn’t until VidAngel saw the short film and heard the idea that it really started to become something that was real. It doesn’t really integrate her into the story of Jesus and his ministry. Jenkins: Right, yeah. How has it been, approaching those sorts of issues and trying to combine those elements, and do you see other things like that in the series that have either already happened or are coming up? So I don’t know that it makes much of a difference whether it’s been done before or not, it’s just another opportunity to dig in. Attended Northwestern Biblical and Liberal Arts College in Roseville, Minnesota. Or there are some sets that have already been built around the world, that we could make use of. Jenkins: (chuckles) Yes, you have to ask. You were talking about how you get halfway through the first episode and you haven’t even seen Jesus yet. So we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. And when we get to the final or second-to-last season, of illustrating the crucifixion of Christ, people have said, “Oh, how are you going to treat that?” And we’ve just been saying, “All you can know is it’s going to be different from what you’ve seen before, and it’s probably going to focus on the emotional angle, not the physical angle. Jenkins: No, Jesus doesn’t say “You saw something in him before I did,” I think he says, “You saw something in him before others did. To me it misses out on a great opportunity, and that’s what people have loved so much about season one so far. You and I have something in common.”. We thought that a straight down-the-middle dialect would be the best way to go. And I just found that so fascinating. We’ve received some criticism for the fact that there are people of all different faith traditions connected to the show. And I think Jesus was speaking of, again, that. Jenkins: Yeah, six to eight seasons is pretty much our goal, yeah. I don’t think it would be a very interesting show if it was, like, eight seasons of just following Jesus, and then you also don’t get the emotional impact of the people that he does [the miracles for]. And you mentioned the British acting thing. She was a columnist for the Toronto Catholic Register for nine years and regularly contributes to Catholic World Report. Jenkins: As of this moment, no, we do not have the money for season two. Even the miracles that he chose to do were oftentimes about relationships. But the other thing is, I asked that question before I had seen the second half of season one, and the first half has a lot of set-up, and I remember when I was watching the first episodes, I wondered what the response to those episodes would be from the investors and the crowd-funding people, because I can imagine a lot of people would have said, “Hey, a TV show about Jesus! He was always very connected. Director-writer Dallas Jenkins (bottom photo) and Catholic actor Jonathan Roumie (top photo) see Godâs providence in how The Chosen series is unfolding. So right off the bat, in season two, we’re going to start expanding the group, and that will absolutely include women. How was that decision arrived at? It hasn’t diminished his divinity in any way, it’s only enhanced it. And there are one or two other films that acknowledge Peter’s mother-in-law, but they portray Peter himself as a widower, so his wife isn’t even in the picture! So we need to come up with new places. James MacDonalds Blog, page 8. And we will absolutely introduce Joanna and the other Marys. It was an idea that I’d had for about a year or so, and I had done several things like this for my church before, for Good Friday services or for Christmas services — short films, vignettes, typically stories of Christ but from different perspectives. But the second half of the season was released several months after the first half, so there was a bit of a risk there, right? Tag: dallas jenkins. Dallas Jenkins. The show has an evangelical tendency. Is the “paying it forward” thing also a way of raising money for season two? In fact, Peter, you probably don’t know this because it just released this morning, but you might find it interesting, on Facebook and on our YouTube channel we have released a video where I basically give our show’s statement of faith, because we have received some criticism for the fact that, for example, we included a Catholic priest in our roundtable panel. It really comes down to people — when they watch it, the response has been pretty overwhelmingly positive, but getting them to watch it has had various degrees of difficulty, because it’s just different. Jerry Bruce Jenkins (born September 23, 1949) is an American writer. Jenkins: Well, there’s no question that it would make for fantastic drama. Dallas Jenkins, Director: The Resurrection of Gavin Stone. Jenkins: Yeah, I honestly don’t know yet what we’re going to do. So there’s good news and bad news when it comes to analyzing the gospels and trying to make a great TV show. The following question is asked by both evangelicals and Catholics: Are you going to portray Jesus as having brothers? That’s true! But that doesn’t mean that he talked that way all the time. Jenkins: Yeah. Sings at least one song in the background of all his films. I know this doesn’t make for great answers, but it really is true: This whole project, from the beginning, has been like— We call it the manna program. I think that when people see the trailer, they’re oftentimes conditioned to think, Okay, this is another Jesus show, or another Jesus project, and for some people that may turn them not off but maybe they’re just not interested because they’ve seen it before and they don’t need to see it again — but for other people, they just want to see as much Jesus stuff as possible. We know that the “pay it forward” engine, long term, is going to be the most sustainable engine. The ending has redeemed that in many ways. So there’s so much richness to be mined there, that’s the great news. [Note: While Sheen’s performance in The West Wing was nominated for many different awards, some of them did specify that he was a “lead actor”.] And it’s because we took the time to set up some of the pain and some of the negativity and some of the unlikability of him so that when he had an arc that the arc is that much more impactful because of it. The Passion, I think, does a very interesting balancing act between the two things, and I was reminded of that when watching the wedding at Cana episode in particular, because you have Mary talking to Jesus when he’s a boy and then again when he’s an adult, and at key moments in both conversations, you go to a point-of-view shot of Mary’s face, as seen from Jesus’s point of view, and that briefly puts us in his position, subjectively, you know what I mean? Six to eight, okay. Was the original short film — the one about the Nativity — done with a series in mind, or was that initially a standalone thing? We look at it as similar to The West Wing, where the president was the central figure but he wasn’t the main character. Yes, I want the Patheos Entertainment Newsletter as well, Identity Politics vs. Transactional Politics. It was just a choice that we believed could help us find a middle ground. He wasn’t the lead of the show. She is a Catholic wife and mother of six children, living in Minnesota. Like, Hey, I thought this was the Jesus show? You mentioned the rich young ruler to whom he said give up all your money, but on the other hand he did have friends like Lazarus who was a wealthy guy from the look of it. Catholics and evangelicals have different perspectives on Mary, and much has been misunderstood. I’m going to get back to questions about stuff like that, about the creative side of things. The team behind The Chosen also rejects past Gospel adaptationsâ âtraditional white European look,â to quote [director Dallas] Jenkins. We already have verse-by-verse adaptations of the gospels. It’s not perfect, it’s not on the far end of the authenticity spectrum. And we’re bringing it down to the small. Catholic Inklings; Homilies; The Easter People "We are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song!" Also, send me the Entertainment Newsletter. Dallas Jenkins isnât dreaming of a âWhite Christmas.â In fact, the Christmas he dreamed up is desolate, lonely and dark. Jenkins: Right, right. And the second half is I think generally even more exciting [for viewers] than the first half, but I think the second half has increased people’s love for episode one, because of the time that we’re taking to set things up. [Roumie has also begun another 40 day Holy Hour on Instagram which he invites everyone to join â @jonathanroumieofficial.] We’re not thinking in terms of better or worse, we’re just thinking in terms of telling the story as best we can. There’s just one or two brief scenes where Peter talks to his wife at home. Filmmaker Dallas Jenkins grew up in a Christian household that loved to tell stories. That is clear as day. John is the only one who mentions that, where he says this is the first of his signs and the disciples believed, and it’s just a very unique and interesting way that he put it. Jenkins: Oh for sure. And we are not shying away— We have not proven to be, nor will we be, afraid of those intense controversial moments, it just hasn’t come up yet. One issue that often comes up in the Jesus-movie genre: In the early years filmmakers were very reluctant to get too close to Jesus directly, and I actually went through the 1960s film King of Kings once and timed it, the character Jesus is in less than half of that movie, the movie spends a lot of time on the supporting characters. So I personally do not know yet if we are going to portray Jesus as having siblings. The evangelicals ask, (upbeat voice) “So, are you going to show Jesus’s brothers?” And the Catholics ask, (sober voice) “So, are you going to portray Jesus as having brothers?” Because Catholics believe in the perpetual virginity of Mary, and that Jesus did not actually have brothers, and that when it mentions brothers, that that’s just a general term for relatives, and it doesn’t mean actual siblings. The Catholic Diocese of Dallas announced it is suspending all â¦ We felt like there was a middle ground to be had, so we felt like giving them accents, Middle Eastern accents, could subconsciously kind of fit into the authentic approach of the show. When you really think about the context of what that really meant, and what the other disciples must have been thinking, to see a tax collector join their group, there is so much to explore, which is why eight episodes of season one have come and gone and we’re only, what, two or three weeks into the story. We just talked about that with the wedding at Cana. And I think as each episode happens, they get even more and more excited. But I remember when we were filming one of the scenes, I don’t remember if it was Peter and his wife or Nicodemus and his wife, but I remember thinking to myself, “I have never seen a marital argument portrayed in a Jesus project before.” And then I realized, “I’ve never seen a marriage portrayed in a Jesus project before!”. It, in many ways, it makes it even more beautiful. So it was slow going, it went slower than we anticipated, VidAngel had some issues in the court system that slowed things down as well, but the people who saw it became evangelists. Because I think there are things you can do in a multi-season show that you can’t do in a 90-minute movie, that you can’t do on the page. And that’s what this show is, ultimately. And when you study the people that were involved, you realize, man, Jesus put together a really cool group of people that make for great television. Some are excited about the fact that it feels different and new and fresh and was inspired by shows like The Wire and Breaking Bad and Friday Night Lights, and then you’ve got people who would be disappointed to hear that. St. John Paul II. Certainly one can point to his different approaches to different people. The brothers are mentioned in all four gospels, they’re mentioned in the book of Acts and the epistles, and I believe John 2 even says that they were at the wedding in Cana. In addition, he has served on several boards, including Catholic Relief Services and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network. I just think he was making an illustrative point. It was interesting seeing the flashback to Jesus in Jerusalem, because there’s just that hint of the Temple above the rooftops there, but unless I missed something, you haven’t actually shot any scenes at the Temple yet—. I was coming off of a career disappointment. In 2007 he directed and produced Midnight Clear, based on the short, which won awards in festivals all over the country, and is still available from Lionsgate. I can only imagine he was responding to people who were just unwilling to accept him as the messiah and follow him and give up their life accordingly, and I think he was saying, “No, you need to give up everything. And I’m like, “Yeah, there’s a lot more people coming.” At the end of season one, we’ve got only a little over half the group so far. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation. I mean, the passion people have for these episodes has been truly extraordinary. There’s two reasons why it’s a little scary to make Jesus the main character. In episode 5 of The Chosen, we introduce one of the most celebrated and debated women in history, Mary, the mother of Christ. We’re really open to anything. The good news is that the events of the gospels, and the people that the gospels talk about, are so rich and so much richer than I even have known — and I’ve been a believer my whole life, and I was a Bible major in college, I’ve studied the Bible my whole life — when you’re looking at it from the perspective of a TV show, I’m trying to tell a great story, it’s been so fun to see things that sometimes you forget that they were there. I just didn’t know where I was going to go, and I poured myself into this short film. But still a very harsh-sounding one, though. You talked about having the money to do the first season. It’s far easier to really connect with some of the people around him, and I believe that if you can see Jesus through the eyes of those who actually met him, you could potentially be impacted in the same way. Any that you like to watch? There’s the Genesis Project, the Visual Bible, the Lumo Project. Around the world! Dallas Jenkins is a filmmaker and has been producing and directing feature films at Harvest Bible Chapel in Chicago, where he directs and produces films. But for the most part, in the last 20 years or so, maybe even a little bit longer, Jesus is the main character. And the ending of episode one has been so powerful for people. Because it’s not just the structure of the gospels, the gospels also emphasize very different themes and very different subjects — so there’s the question of harmonization, how do you approach that, and do you see this as a show where, would Jesus be going back and forth repeatedly Jerusalem and Galilee or is it going to be a bit more linear than that? And whatever it is that’s most important to you needs to take second place.” So in the case of the rich young ruler, he was saying you need to give up your money. You can find out more about her here. Those two moments, though — the wedding at Cana and the time when she was missing him for three days — we wanted to connect them, because we thought they were both really illustrative of the simple fact that Jesus had a mom! But within those miracles he does, do we really believe that he stood there with a halo around his head and waved his hands magically? Sarah loves her faith, coffee, and good books. They weren’t written to be a smooth narrative. Read all of Sarah's posts here. That doesn’t make it better or worse, I’m not making a judgment call, I’m just saying that right off the bat, you’re halfway through episode one and Jesus hasn’t even shown up yet, and it takes a bit of time to adjust to the fact that this is more like a normal show than it is a traditional Jesus project where you’re just taking the Bible verses and re-enacting them. So I had that idea, but that did not come before the short film, that came kind of as I was making the short film. 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